Same Sex Marriages

16 Pages 3999 Words

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state anti-miscegenation laws in Loving v. Virginia.
• In 1978, New York became the first state to outlaw rape in marriage. By 1990, only a total of ten states outlawed rape in marriage. In thirty-six states rape in marriage was a crime only in certain circumstances. In four states, rape in marriage was never a crime.
These examples, and there are more, clearly documenting that marriage has not been an
unchanging institution with unchanging definitions of who can marry and under what
circumstances. These are some cultural forms of marriage
• Ancient Mesopotamia Sumerian marital law of about 4,600 years ago, permited the king to have sex with a bride before their husbands were allowed, according to various translations of the Epic of Gilgamesh.
• Bible Polygamy, that is simultaneously being married to more than one woman, was common for many men featured in the Bible: Abraham, the first Jew, took a concubine, Hagar, for the express purpose of continuing his blood line, since his wife, ...